Test 2

is systematic inequalities between groups of people that arise as intended or unintended consequences of social processes and relationships.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

In the eighteenth century, who argued that private property creates social inequality and that this inequality ultimately leads to social conflict?

Adam Ferguson and John Millar

The Scottish Enlightenment thinkers ____ and ____ agreed with Rousseau that private property creates inequality, but they argued that this is good because it means that some people prosper and create ____.

Assets

a form of wealth that can be stored for the future. The ability to create these provides an incentive to work hard and be productive, which in turn leads to higher degrees of social organization and efficiency and ultimately to an improved society and civilization. The irony, however, is that this ability to create and store surpluses is what creates inequality.

Thomas Malthus

Also viewed inequality favorably, but only as a means for controlling population growth. He thought that a more equal distribution of resources would increase the world’s population to unsustainable levels and ultimately bring about mass starvation and conflict.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’smaster–slave dialectic

posited that most social relationships in the world were based on a master–slave model in which the master becomes as dependent on the slave as the slave is on the master. Hegel also believed that over time society would have more and more free people and the master–slave model would die out as the primary social relationship.

Ontological equality

is the notion that everyone is created equal in the eyes of God

Equality of opportunity

is the idea that inequality of condition is acceptable so long as everyone has the same opportunities for advancement and is judged by the same standards. This standard of equality is most closely associated with modern capitalist society and a cornerstone of arguments made by civil rights activists in the United States in the 1960s.

Equality of condition

is the idea that everyone should have an equal starting point from which to pursue his or her goals. Belief in this standard of equality has led to policies, such as affirmative action, which try to compensate social actors for differences in their conditions or starting points.

Equality of outcome

is the notion that everyone in a society should end up with the same “rewards” regardless of his or her starting point, opportunities, or contributions. This standard of equality is most closely associated with Communist ideology, and critics argue that without greater incentives to work hard and be productive, people will slack off and social progress will be stymied.

The estate system

is a politically based system of stratification characterized by limited social mobility that is best exemplified in the social organization of feudal Europe and the pre–Civil War American South.

The caste system

is a system of stratification based on hereditary notions of religious and theological purity and generally offers no prospects for social mobility. The varna system in India is the most common example today of a caste system.

The class system

is an economically based system of stratification characterized by somewhat loose social mobility and categories based on roles in the production process rather than individual characteristics.

Karl Marx, proletariat, bourgeoisie

felt that society was divided strictly into two classes the _____ or working class, and the _____, or employing class.

Erik Olin Wright, contradictory class locations

______ developed the concept of _______, which is the idea that people can occupy locations in the class structure that fall between the two “pure” classes defined by Marx.

Class

It can be difficult to define ____, because ____ means different things to different people and because people and because people don't always neatly fit into one category.

Max Weber's, class

____ concept of ____ is based on grouping people according to the value of their property or labor in the commercial marketplace.

Status Hierarchy System

A system of stratification based on social prestige. This prestige can be linked to different things - occupation, lifestyle, membership in certain organizations - but sociclogists have most often studied occupational status.

elite–mass dichotomy system

is a system of stratification that has a governing elite - a few leaders who broadly hold the power of society.

Vilfredo Pareto, elite-mass dichotomy system

_____ thought that the masses were better off in a _____ because the most skilled and talented people would reach the governing elite.

C. Wright Mills, elite-mass dichotomy system

____ viewed the _____ as dangerous and detrimental as it consolidates power in the hands of the few who will act according to their interests as opposed to the interests of the masses.

Socioeconomic Status

Refers to an individual's position in a stratified social order.

The upper class

In the United States _____ is associated with income, wealth, power, and prestige, but definitions related to specific levels of income or net worth can vary.

Middle Class

There is little consensus about how to define the _____, yet almost 90 percent of Americans define themselves as being in the _______.

Middle class, Working class

The ____ has historically been composed of white-collar workers, and the ____ of manual laborers. However, in the post-World War II economic boom, they essentially merged together. Higher wages gave the manual laborers access to markers of white-collar achievement like home ownership, providing their children with a college education, and an ample retirement savings.

middle class, working class

Another major change in the workforce that has blurred the lines between the ____ and the _____ is the rise of low-wage service sector composed of white collar jobs that earn blue collar wages

Income gap, 30 years

the ____ between high income and low income individuals has increased dramatically over the last _____: a number of competing theories exist as to why this has happened.

Poverty, working poor, nonworking poor, underclass, poverty

has an official, government definition, but there are less official categories such as the ____ and the _____, sometimes called the _____. These unofficial categories don't represent stable, homogeneous groups because people at this end of the socioeconomic spectrum tend to shift in and out of _____ over the course of their lives.

Global inequality, 500 years, 20 to 30 years, inequality

Taking a broad view of history, it is clear that _____ has increased dramatically in the past _____. However, by some measures there has been a noticeable decrease in income inequality in the past ______. One key to these conclusions is whether you look at ______ within different countries or between countries.

Europe

Many scholars have examined the question of why ____ developed first and why many former colonies have struggled to improve social and economic conditions for their populations. Theories range from geographic differences to the importance of social institutions to the types of relationships different colonial powers had with their colonies.

Social Mobility

The movement between different positions within a system of social stratification in any given society, can either be horizontal or vertical and can take place on the individual or group level.

Structural mobility

mobility that is inevitable from changes in the economy such as the expansion of high-tech jobs in the past 20 years.

Exchange mobility

occurs when people essentially trade positions - the number of overall jobs stays the same, with some people moving up into better jobs and others moving down into worse ones.

mobility table

a way to examine the process of individual mobility by comparing changes in occupational status between generations.

status-attainment model

looks at changes in occupational status between generations, but it includes factors such as educational attainment, income, and the prestige of a person's first job.

Estate tax

_____ in the United States is related to the issue of stratification because it goes to the heart of questions about how to promote business growth, how wealth should be distributed, how to encourage meritocracy, and how to build a more equitable society.

Feminism

an intellectual, consciousness- raising movement based on the idea that women and men should be accorded equal opportunities and respect. The movement's chief goal could be described as getting people to understand that gender is an organizing principle of life.

Gender, social relations

____ structures ____ on unequal ground, thus power is fundamentally at play when we talk about gender differences.

Sex, sexuality, gender

____ is the natural or biological differences that distinguish males from females; ____ refers to desire, sexual preference, sexual identity, and behavior; _____ is a social construct that consists of a set of social arrangements that are built around sex.

study of gender involves looking very closely at the relationship between nature and nurture

the ____ and not assuming that one overshadows the other or that there is a clear line separating the two.

two

Need to realize that there may not just be ___ sexes, and that some people may fall into other categories.

Ancient Greeks, male, female, mid-eighteenth century

the ____ thought there was one body, the ____ body, and the ____ body was its inversion. This endured until the ______.

some theorists claim that there is a _____ in society today - an ideal notion of a man that is so dominant, people aren't even really aware of it. However, the notion of the ideal man has changed over time, once again proving that gender is not a rigid, unchanging category.

Gender roles

_______ are sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one's status as male or female. However, there is much evidence showing that ______ have more to do with social status than biology.

Structural functionalist approach

assumes that gender differences exist to fulfill necessary functions in society, but it doesn't allow for the possibility that other structures could fulfill the same function or for the fact that structures change throughout history.

psychoanalytic theories

focuses on individualistic explanations for gender differences as opposed to societal ones. Inherent in these theories is the notion that natural differences exist between men and women that dictate how they behave.

socialist feminists

argue that all social relations, including relations between workers and the owners of the means of production, stem from unequal gender relations.

social constructionists

argue that gender is a process in which people participate with every social interaction.

black feminists

have pointed out that gender doesn't function in a vacuum and that gender studies must take into account that no single category of women or men exists. Indeed some women are not only more privileged than other women but are even more privileged then some men.

Some Postmodern theorists

question the whole notion of woman as a separate, stable category and question the value and appropriateness of western scholars applying their cultural logic to the study of non-western societies.

middle-range theories

may be the most useful in addressing the complicated subject of gender because they connect people's day-to-day experiences to larger social forces.

Sexual practices vary across time and place

much like gender differences, ____ which supports the notion that sexuality is as much a social construct as gender is.

Some feminists

see sexuality as an expression of the unequal distribution of power between men and women and argue that women don't really choose heterosexuality but have it imposed on them by a male-dominated society.

homosexual, mid-nineteenth century

refers to the social identity of a person who has sexual attraction to and/or relations with people of the same sex, is a concept or identity that emerged in the _____.

Michael Foucault

relates the emergence of the homosexual identity to the development of states and scientific disciplines and a desire in both arenas to monitor and categorize people and behavior. He also introduced the notion that self-surveillance is a form of social control.

Gender inequality

studies show that _____ is rampant in schools. boys and girls are treated differently by teachers and different expectations exist for their behavior and performance. The textbooks and other materials used in schools often reinforce gender stereotypes.

Women

While ____ are a significant part of the workforce today, they still face many challenges in the working world, including unequal pay, sexual harassment, sexism, tracking to certain kinds of jobs, the feminization of jobs, the glass ceiling, and more.

Opting out

refers to a perceived trend among mostly middle class women of leaving the workforce to be full time wives and mothers, in large part because of frustrations with the many obstacles they face on the job and the sense that they can find fulfillment in the home.

Race

a group of people who share a set of characteristics - usually physical ones - and are said to share a common bloodline.

Racism

the belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal human traits.

social darwinism

a nineteenth century theory that was the notion that some groups or races had evolved more than others and were better fit to survive and even rule other races.

eugenics

the science of genetic lines and the inheritable traits they pass on from generation to generation

One-drop rule

the belief that one drop of black blood makes a person black.

racialization

the formation of a new racial identity in which new ideological boundaries of difference are drawn around a formerly unnoticed group of people.

Race

imposed, usually based on physical differences - hierarchical, exclusive, and unequal.

ethnicity

voluntary, self-defined, nonhierarchical, fluid, cultural, and not so closely linked with power differences.

symbolic ethnicity

ethnicity that is individualistic in nature and without real social cost for the individual.

_____ offered up a variation to _____ model that involved seven stages.

Primordialism

the ethnic ties are fixed in a deeply felt connection to one's homeland culture

pluralism

refers to the presence and engaged coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society, with no group in the majority.

withdrawal, passing, acceptance, resistance

four ways that groups respond to oppression

poverty

a condition of deprivation due to economic circumstances that is severe enough that the individual in this condition cannot live with dignity in his or her society.

perverse incentives

reward structures that lead to suboptimal outcomes by stimulating counterproductive behavior

culture of poverty theory

argues that poor people adopt certain practices, which differ from those of middle class or mainstream society, in order to adapt and survive in difficult economic circumstances and sometimes continue to rely on these practices even after they are no longer useful and potentially detrimental.

1980s, Ken Auletta, underclass

in the ____, journalist ______ introduced the concept of the ______.

Charles Murray

reemphasized perverse incentives by arguing that welfare regulations make work and marriage less attractive and rising welfare benefits more attractive.

Sociologist William Julius Wilson

turned the focus from welfare to factors such as deindustrialization, globalization, suburbanization, and discrimination as causes of urban poverty.

What money can't buy, Susan Mayer

In her book ____, sociologist ____ wrote that she found very little evidence to support the widely held belief that parental income has a significant effect on children's incomes.

the Bell Curve, Charles Murray and Richard Hernstein

In ______, ______ argued that it's not poverty or education or parenting that ultimately has the most impact on children's outcomes, but simply genes.

James Rosenbaum's, Gautreaux Assisted Living Program in Chicago and the Moving to Opportunity (MTO)

________ study of the _______ study begun by the U.S. Department of housing and urban development in 1994 were both efforts to see how moving families from high poverty to low poverty communities might affect parental employment, children's outcomes, and a host of other factors. Did have positive effects on children.

absolute poverty

the point at which a household's income falls below the necessary level to purchase food to physically sustain it's members.

1960s, Mollie Orshansky

The official poverty line in the US is calculated using a formula developed in the ____ by ______ that estimates food costs for a variety of family types based on U.S. department of Ag recommendations for minimum food requirements.

relative poverty

a measurement of poverty based on a percentage of the median income in a given location.

Talcott Parsons

developed the concept of the sick role, which assigns a sick person two rights and two obligations.

The Whitehall Study, economist John Komlos's study of the height of Dutch people

_____ and ______ show that social factors such as where you live, what you do for a living, and how much money you earn, particularly in relation to other members of the society in which you live, have greater influence on your health than health care and health-care systems.

selection theory, drift explanation, and the theory that social position causes health.

Three main theories exist that attempt to explain why people with higher socioeconomic status have better health: _____, ______, and _____

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)

provides a standard categorization of mental disorders and their definitions.

diagnostic psychiatry

identifying symptoms of specific underlying diseases and treating them